Friday, November 27, 2015

Fear is excellent news for business

In the conference call held last week, lobbyists representing a
number of high-polluting industries agreed that the battle between
Congress and President Obama on refugee policy will give them the cover
they need to attach a legislative rider to the omnibus budget bill that
rolls back newly expanded clean water regulation.
“I think that probably helps us,” one participant said, referring to the coming confrontation over refugee policy.

The White House has issued veto threats against
previous attempts by Congress to block the Waters of the United States
(WOTUS) rule, a regulation finalized this year that extends Clean Water
Act protections to millions of acres of wetlands and streams. So
attaching a rider blocking WOTUS to the omnibus was potentially going to
attract a lot of attention. Until now.

Now, lawmakers are expected to attach a provision to the omnibus bill
to block Syrian refugee resettlement — a move that is bound to become
the focus of any government shutdown confrontation between Congress and
the White House.